Late treble for Tynecastle tots up to final glory

TYNECASTLE scored three times in the final 11 minutes to recover from a 2-1 deficit against rivals Leith Athletic and claim the Lothian Buses South East Region Youth FA under-15 John McConnell Memorial Cup at Penicuik.

A selection of sumptuous finishes punctuated a keenly-contested battle, with textbook headers by Tynecastle's Peter O'Malley and Jamie Pearce the pick of the bunch and the key strikes that brought the equaliser then the go-ahead goal for the eventual winners.

Now in their third season of competitive 11-a-side football, the two sides had, before last week, never produced one particular result from numerous meetings – a Tynecastle win.

But, going into this final, the boys in maroon had the psychological advantage over their adversaries, having scored a 1-0 league victory at Leith Links only days previously.

They carried that momentum into the opening minutes of the showpiece clash in Midlothian, assuming an early advantage when Soloman Hussain saw a shot deflected wide before he stole a march on the Leith defence at the resulting corner and converted at the near post.

Leith stormed back into the game and conjured a hat-trick of chances in their attempts to equalise before half-time.

Daniel Simpson's free-kick towards the bottom right-hand corner from 25 yards was neatly pounced upon by Tynecastle goalkeeper Mark Hurst, then Athletic central defender Marc Fairman saw his bullet header from a corner crash off Hurst's crossbar before the grateful goalie gathered.

Fairman ghosted in at the far post to meet Simpson's long, hopeful, and otherwise elusive cross, but the No.14 couldn't connect well enough to divert the ball goalwards.

Leith deservedly equalised, albeit in freak fashion, ten minutes into the second-half after emerging from the interval appearing as the far hungrier side.

The persistence of roving left-back Harvey McIntosh drew a foul from his fellow No.2, Tynecastle's Ben Hughes, adjacent to the corner flag. Simpson's free-kick was floated teasingly towards the far post, sailing over the considerable reach of goalkeeper Hurst and dipping and curling at exactly the right moment to drop into the far corner of the net.

Eight minutes later, Tynecastle had a glorious opportunity to restore their lead when Liam Conaghan picked out Jamie Pearce in space in the box.

But, unaware of his wide-open situation – the nearest defender was a good ten yards away – Pearce rushed his effort from 15 yards and fired a tame shot into the arms of Reece Smail.

From an immediate counter-attack, Tynecastle were punished in the extreme, as Leith's Jason Coyle raced across the penalty area and drew an impulsive dive from Tynecastle goalkeeper Mark Hurst who, as the last man, was desperate to smother the ball.

Hurst could only find Coyle's ankle, though, conceding a penalty-kick that Gavin Kneeshaw slammed into the bottom right-hand corner.

It was this moment that was later identified by Tynecastle coach Scott Ferrie as the turning point for his side, who went on to stage an entirely unforeseeable comeback to crush a buoyant Leith.

Ten minutes after the spot-kick, a long ball into the Leith box found the head of Peter O'Malley, who sent a looping header from ten yards over a ruck of players, including goalkeeper Smail, and into the net to make it 2-2.

With five minutes on the clock, Hussain's good work on the right flank culminated in a superb cross deep into the box and, although the ball looked to be dropping beyond its target Pearce, the midfielder craned his neck to reach it and still managed to exert sufficient power and direction to send his header back into the right-hand corner of the net.

The scoring, and a miraculous climax, was complete two minutes from time as Leith's otherwise impressive Fairman clearly felled Liam Peden in the box and Peden himself hammered the penalty into the net and, with it, the final nail in Leith's cup final coffin.

Tynecastle coach Ferrie said: "We were slow to get going, but at 2-1 we really got into gear. We beat Leith for the first time in three years last week, so that set us up nicely for today.

"To score the equaliser when we did was very important, as we had to get back into the game at that stage."

Tynecastle: Mark Hurst, Ben Hughes, Darren Gallagher, Daniel Graves, Brad Hainey, Peter O'Malley, Liam Peden, Jamie Pearce, Soloman Hussain, Peter Reilly, Liam Conaghan, Kevin Dyet, Jamie Henderson.

Leith Athletic: Reece Smail, Harvey McIntosh, Sean Murphy, Kieran Muirhead, Martin Innes, Daniel Simpson, Gavin Kneeshaw, Jason Coyle, Jake Harper, Scott Wilson, Marc Fairman, Sean Melvin, Andy Swinney.